- As court remands man for allegedly killing 11-year-old houseboy in Enugu
A 19-year-old teenager in Adamawa State has confessed to killing his three-day-old baby boy.
Aliyu Yaro who has been apprehended by the Adamawa state police command confessed to the heinous crime during interrogations.
He also took the police where the baby’s remains were buried.
Aliyu who hails from Kwacham, ward in Mubi North Local Government, was accused by his girlfriend, Safiya of murdering the baby three days after she gave birth to him.
He told the police that he had impregnated the mother of the deceased who happens to be his girlfriend (now the complainant), and after delivery, she kept calling him to come and carry the baby.
According to him, he went to Safiya’s house one night and left with the infant after he had sent the mother to fetch water for him.
He further narrated that he single-handedly carried the corpse around 9:00 pm and buried it at the Girpata area in Mubi.
The state Commissioner of Police, Morris Dankombo, has ordered that the matter be transferred to CID for discreet investigation and diligent prosecutions.
In another development, a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Enugu East Magisterial District has remanded one Anthony Onyeukwu, over the death of his 11-year-old houseboy, Goodluck John.
Enugu state’s commissioner for Children, Gender Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Ngozi Enih, disclosed that Onyeukwu, aged 47, was arrested following a tip-off from one of the Ministry’s whistle-blower channels that the young Goodluck John’s death was linked to abuse in the hands of the family where he lived with as a houseboy.
However, Onyeukwu was said to have quickly buried the remains of the child in the boy’s hometown in Abia State without reporting his death to the appropriate authorities.
Although he was said to have claimed that the boy had died from an ailment at the Park Lane Hospital, Enugu, there was no record to show that the boy was admitted in the hospital or that his corpse was deposited in the hospital’s morgue.
Arraigning the suspect last week, the Police Prosecutor- Inspr Calista Ifeanyi, told the presiding Chief Administrative Magistrate, Ngozi Edeh Anih that Onyeukwu had committed an offence punishable under the Criminal Code (Revised) Laws of Enugu State.
The charge sheet marked: CME/631C/2024 read, “That you, Onyeukwu Anthony ‘m’ on 15th day of October, 2024 at about 20:30 hours at No. 4, Mike Onyeka Close, Loma Linda Extension, Maryland, Enugu, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did unlawfully k!ll one Goodluck John ‘m’ aged 11 years and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 274 (1) of the Criminal Code, CAP 30, Vol. II, Revised Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria, 2004.”
The Chief Magistrate subsequently ordered the suspect’s remand in the Correctional Centre, Enugu and, adjourned the matter to 20th November, 2024 when the report from the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ministry of Justice, Enugu, is expected.
Meanwhile, the Office of the First Lady of Enugu State, Mrs. Nkechinyere Mbah, has warned against any form of child abuse in the state, as no such act would go unpunished.
